Painted sf & fantasy miniatures by Gerrie Schenck

The ninth edition of Painting Crusade was held in the same location as last year: the Centre Armillaire in Jette, Brussels, Belgium. Unlike last year, I visited the event on Sunday, and entered some pieces in the competition.

The layout of the rooms was the same as last year. At the ground floor there was the painting competition display (on the left) and the second hand market (on the right). What also makes this event unique is the fact that the trophees are assembled on the spot (that's what the guy with the red shirt is doing).

At the basement level there is a big table in the middle where you can sit if you bring your own gear. Maybe I should really do so next year :)

There were also some traders present, like Smart Max Miniatures:

A guy selling display plinths:

Amon Miniatures:

And another one which name I forgot.

First a word about how the painting competition was laid out. Basically there were four categories: master, confirmed, debutant and sculpt. The master category was really crowded: with more than 3/4 of all entries. The level of this category was very high, with most entrants being international competition winners (including Golden Demon) and big names in the community. I'm not sure how the judging worked, but it's sure that all of your pieces are taken into account: your entire display is judged.

Here you can see an overview of the entire competition: the blue ribbons are used to mark the categories. Everything on the right is master category, left of that "confirmed", then debutant and on the complete left there's the sculpting category.

I decided to enter my pieces in the "confirmed" category. Before announcing the big winners I can already say I won silver with my display:

If you want to have a closer look at these figures, please check out my gallery.

Okay let's continue with some pictures of the masters category:

One of the figures of David Waeselynck, who took third prize overall:

This monk by Raffaele Picca is probably one of the most stunning pieces of the show. Those fish swimming in the cup were really amazing to see. Together with the rest of the display it won him the overall gold.

Two other pieces from his display:

Roman Lappat's display. He took second prize overall with his display and this particular piece won him the best of show award.

The entries were judged using an "open" format, meaning that in every category you could have multiple bronze, silver and gold. When these prizes were given, the three best gold winners from the masters category were awarded a "Golden Edmond":

David Waeselynck:

Roman Lappat:

Raffaele Picca:

After that Roman received the best of show award, for the best single miniature (for his Rhino). Winning this prize also implies he is invited to be the head judge next year.

Again I was really surprised by this event. Scale wise it isn't as big: but the quality level of the entries was simply amazing. It's the number one painting event in Belgium, that's for sure. It really needs more promotion in the future. See you next year!